Trying to be vegan and delicious!

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I have had a crazy schedule this semester. Working late hours in the lab, often followed by evening tutoring appointments as undergrads panic over finals. The only thing I really have the time and money to grab on campus for dinner is a burrito at the place across the street. Unfortunately, the cost of this adds up. After buying a few frozen vegan burritos from the grocery store as a cheaper alternative, I realized (duh) that I should just make them myself.

These burritos have way more protein than your usual store-bought vegan option. I paid about $16 for enough ingredients to make 11 burritos. $4 of that was for store-bought vegan cream cheeze, of which I only used a third of a tub, so if you make cheeze yourself or omit it entirely they will be even cheaper.

I now have a healthy option for dinners at work that will fuel me for my bike ride home. They freeze well, and warm up in the microwave fine whether taken straight from the freezer or left to thaw for several hours in a lunch bag.

Make-Ahead Bean Burritos

An original recipe by Agent Minty

Makes 11 burritos

One note: to make a lower-fat option, use oil to steam-fry veggies, and do not add to beans. Do not, however, remove oil when cooking the ground round.

Six more weeks of winter. Technically, only four until it’s “spring”, but in Alberta we get snow and cold weather lasting until April. However, today was a fair day with lots of sunshine, and it put me in a good mood. I decided to make sunshiny lunch bowls filled with a rainbow assortment of healthy foods to keep me going all week.

Sometimes called Abundance Bowls, these meals have a grain base combined with legumes, vegetables, and seeds. Mine contains steamed broccoli, quick-pickled red cabbage, roasted red peppers, and lentils, topped with a peanut-sesame-lime dressing. For extra protein, I’ve included quinoa and pumpkin seeds. For the calorie curious, one bowl has 395 calories, 57g carbs, 12g fat, and 19g protein. To make ahead for the week, I prefer to prepare each set of ingredients and only combine the night before.

Winter Sunshine Rainbow Bowls – An original recipe by Agent Minty

Ingredients:

Grains and Lentil Mix (Recipe Below)

Red Cabbage Quick Pickle (Recipe Below)

2 red peppers, roasted, with skins and seeds removed

2 heads of broccoli, stems and florets diced and steamed

5 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds

Peanut-sesame-lime Dressing

Instructions:

Spoon 1/5 of the grains and lentil mix into each bowl.

Arrange on top 1/5 each of the cabbage, sliced roasted peppers, broccoli, and pumpkin seeds.

Drizzle dressing on top and enjoy.

Grains and Lentils Mix

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried quinoa

1/4 cup dried red lentils

1/2 cup cracked wheat

Instructions:

Wash quinoa well and combine with 2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil on high and simmer with lid on for 7 minutes.

Stir in the lentils, and turn down heat to medium-low for 5 minutes.

Stir in cracked wheat and 1/4 more water.

Allow to return to a simmer for 2 minutes, then turn off heat.

Sit, covered with a lid, for at least 10 minutes.

Red Cabbage Quick Pickle

Ingredients:

1/3 red cabbage, shredded (about 2 cups)

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp salt

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients and sit at room temperature at least one hour.

Peanut-sesame-lime Dressing

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp lime juice

2 tsp olive oil

2 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp tahini

1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp Sriracha (reduce if you dislike spicy things)

1/3 cup water

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.

I’m going to enjoy this bit of brightness and sunshine in my days all week – I hope you have a good week, too!

I’ve been a busy person lately. In the kitchen, too, making some recipes to share with you, but I haven’t had time to finish all of the photo processing and recipe typing. While I work on other things, here’s a recap of some of the mess I made in my kitchen today:

One of my 2015 resolutions is to try to incorporate more vegetables into every meal. Last week I tried making Serious Eats’ Instant Noodles with Miso-Sesame Broth. They were so good I’m making a jar for every workday this week! My version includes pressed tofu pan-fried in olive oil (as the first layer after the sauce base), fresh mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, snap peas, and udon noodles. I switched to using freeze-dried chives instead of chopped scallions after my office was left with a lingering smell of green onions.

I’m also trying to improve my early-morning preparedness. For three breakfasts this week, I made a big batch of high-protein oatmeal that I’ll keep in the fridge and reheat before eating. For two other meals, I’ll make VegMcMuffins – I’ve already prepped the tofu and “meat”, all I’ll need to do is toast an English muffin and add slices of pepper and tomato.

I made a batch of cookies but didn’t take pictures. They were a cashew variation of Nephew Cookies, to give to a neighbour. It was like he was psychic – as I was convincing myself to bundle up and drop them off, he same over with some Vegan chili he had made for us. Awesome!

Finally, I made a big pot of minestrone, like we do every month. This will last in leftovers for a few dinners this week, or be frozen as extra lunches for days when we don’t have time to make anything fresh but want something healthy and delicious.

A few hours of work made me food for at least twelve meals plus more to share, with lots of healthy ingredients and flavour. Yum!

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I like to make vegan treats like ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, and pie. Tofu is delicious, too!

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